President Joe Biden traveled to his home state on Tuesday by a squadron of helicopters to shoot a top-secret campaign video.
The White House and the Biden campaign released few details about the effort, on a day when the president was largely out of view.
Biden spent several hours at Alexis DuPont’s high school, around the corner from his home in Wilmington, implementing the project. There were no signs of large crowds, but telltale signs of high-quality video production.
“I’m just an extra,” one participant, a woman in a long dress, told DailyMail.com. When asked if she was holding a sign, she said no. “I play by the rules,” she replied.
Staff members in black T-shirts had ID badges that read “crew,” another clue to his actions.
At the school near the auditorium where students were staging a production of Sweeney Todd, a sign stated that by entering, visitors “consent to being photographed, filmed and/or otherwise recorded.”
President Joe Biden flew to Wilmington, Delaware to tape a campaign ad, although his campaign released few details about his activities on Tuesday
It came on a day when Biden was largely out of sight
The president took top aides on the trip
‘Your submission constitutes your consent to the photographing, filming and/or recording and any perpetual use, in any media, of your appearance, voice and name for any purpose, without compensation, in connection with production for the Biden for the 2024 presidential campaign and affiliates.”
If you do not agree to the terms, “please do not enter the area,” read the large legal notice, printed on a billboard.
(The hall itself included props signs from the production of the Stephen Sondhein musical, which advertised ‘Mrs. Lovett’s World Famous Meat Pies’).
The Biden/Harris campaign remained tight-lipped on the details.
“President Biden is participating in a campaign event,” the campaign told a group of reporters traveling with the president from Washington.
Even the local TV stations only reported that he would be in town at school.
Biden appeared with Kamala Harris at the same school in 2020, just a day after naming her as his running mate. That came during his “basement” campaign amid the coronavirus pandemic, when the party’s Milwaukee convention was canceled and Biden often spoke in deserted rooms to reporters sitting in tape-demarcated circles.
“I have no doubt that I have chosen the right person to join me as the next Vice President of the United States,” Biden said at the time. “She’s smart, she’s tough, she’s experienced, she’s a proven fighter for the backbone of this country, the middle class and all those who struggle to get into the middle class.”
Now, four years later, Biden, 81, is preparing for an angry rematch with Donald Trump, 71. Both men are suffering from high negative ratings and Trump has been locked up in a Manhattan courthouse for weeks for his “silent” Stormy Daniels trial.
“Stormy weather,” Biden joked at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Biden has been on the campaign trail while Trump has been in lockdown. Trump has called for debates from the courthouse. Biden has said he would “love” to be involved, but it may be the TV ad campaigns that present the sharpest contrasts.
Biden had a big cash advantage over Trump at the end of March, raising more than $90 million with about $192 million in cash on hand. That compared to the $66 million Trump raised, with $93 million in cash, although Trump stepped up his fundraising with a major event at Mar-a-Lago.
Biden landed in Delaware at 2:30 p.m. and spent his time at the high school just minutes from his home, which he visits regularly. He brought along senior advisors, including Anita Dunn and Mike Donilon, for the trip.